The term ‘multimedia service’ may refer to call services such as Video Call, streaming services such as Video on Demand (VOD) service, and/or services such as Multicast and Broadcast Service. Real-time multimedia services may be divided into call services, interactive services and streaming services depending on the service type, and may also be divided into unicast, multicast and broadcast depending on the number of participating users.
A related-art broadcast network usually uses Moving Picture Experts Group (MPEG)-2 Transport Stream (MPEG-2 TS), for transmission of multimedia content. MPEG-2 TS is used as a typical transmission technology for transmitting a bit stream, with which multiple broadcast programs and/or multiple coded video bit streams are multiplexed, in an error-ridden transmission environment. MPEG-2 TS is suitable for use in digital TV broadcasting or the like in the multimedia age.
MPEG-2 TS may have a few limitations in supporting multimedia services. In other words, MPEG-2 TS may have limitations such as one-way communication, inefficiency of transmission due to a fixed frame size, and unnecessary overhead which occurs when data is transmitted using the transport protocol and Internet Protocol (IP) that are specific to audio/video.
Therefore, MPEG has proposed an MPEG Media Transport (MMT) standard as one of the multimedia transmission technologies for supporting multimedia services based on the MPEG technology. For example, the MMT standard may be applied to efficiently transmit hybrid content over a heterogeneous network. The term ‘hybrid content’ as used herein may refer to a collection of content having multimedia elements corresponding to video/audio/applications. The heterogeneous network may be, for example, a network in which a broadcasting network and a mobile communication network coexist.
The MMT standard aims at defining an IP-friendly transmission technology which is the basic technology in a transmission network for multimedia services. To this end, there is a need for a structure of an MMT transport packet for more efficiently delivering logical data objects in a variety of formats, including coded media data, in a changing multimedia service environment.
Other aspects, advantages, and salient features of the disclosure will become apparent to those skilled in the art from the following detailed description, which, taken in conjunction with the annexed drawings, discloses various embodiments of the present disclosure.